Distribution and execution of instructions in a distributed computing environment

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for distribution and execution of instructions in a distributed computing environment are disclosed. An example method includes requesting, by executing an instruction with a processor within a deployment environment, a package supporting execution of a second instruction from a management endpoint, loading, by executing an instruction with the processor, a first component of the package in a command cache, the first component including a third instruction to implement a plugin framework, causing, by executing an instruction with the processor, a second component of the package to be stored in an instruction cache, the instruction cache located outside the deployment environment, the second component including a fourth instruction, and executing the first component from the command cache.

RELATED APPLICATION

This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/370,790, (Now U.S. Patent) which was filed on Dec. 6, 2016. U.S.patent application Ser. No. 15/370,790 is hereby incorporated herein byreference in its entirety. Priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/370,790 is hereby claimed.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to distribution and execution ofinstructions in a distributed computing environment.

BACKGROUND

Virtualizing computer systems provides benefits such as the ability toexecute multiple computer systems on a single hardware computer,replicating computer systems, moving computer systems among multiplehardware computers, and so forth.

“Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”)generally describes a suite of technologies provided as an integratedsolution to allow for elastic creation of a virtualized, networked, andpooled computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “cloud computingplatform”). Enterprises may use IaaS as a business-internalorganizational cloud computing platform (sometimes referred to as a“private cloud”) that gives an application developer access toinfrastructure resources, such as virtualized servers, storage, andnetworking resources. By providing ready access to the hardwareresources required to run an application, the cloud computing platformenables developers to build, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of a webapplication (or any other type of networked application) at a greaterscale and at a faster pace than ever before.

Cloud computing environments may be composed of many processing units(e.g., servers). The processing units may be installed in standardizedframes, known as racks, which provide efficient use of floor space byallowing the processing units to be stacked vertically. The racks mayadditionally include other components of a cloud computing environmentsuch as storage devices, networking devices (e.g., switches), etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an example system constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example generation of a multi-machine blueprint bythe example blueprint manager of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example installation of deployed virtual machinesand associated servers acting as hosts for deployment of componentservers for a customer.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram representing an example arrangement of thevirtual appliance of FIG. 3A operating the management endpoint, and thecomponent server of FIG. 3A operating the management agent.

FIG. 3C is a block diagram representing an example alternativearrangement of the virtual appliance of FIG. 3A operating the managementendpoint, and the component server of FIG. 3A operating the managementagent.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example implementation of a virtual appliance.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram representing an example implementation of theexample management endpoint of the example VA of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or4.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram representing an example implementation of theexample component server of the illustrated example of FIG. 3A.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram 700 representative of operations performedby the example management agent of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6, and/or theexample management endpoint of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example managementagent of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example managementagent of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example managementendpoint of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example processing platform capable ofexecuting the example machine-readable instructions of FIG. 7 toimplement the example management endpoint of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or5.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example processing platform capable ofexecuting the example machine-readable instructions of FIGS. 7 and/or 8to implement the example management agent of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Cloud computing is based on the deployment of many physical resourcesacross a network, virtualizing the physical resources into virtualresources, and provisioning the virtual resources for use across cloudcomputing services and applications. Example systems for virtualizingcomputer systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/903,374, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REALMACHINES,” filed Sep. 21, 2007, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,485,U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/919,965, entitled “METHOD ANDSYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REAL MACHINES,” filed Mar. 26, 2007, andU.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/736,422, entitled “METHODSAND APPARATUS FOR VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING,” filed Dec. 12, 2012, all threeof which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

Cloud computing platforms may provide many powerful capabilities forperforming computing operations. However, taking advantage of thesecomputing capabilities manually may be complex and/or requiresignificant training and/or expertise. Prior techniques to providingcloud computing platforms and services often require customers tounderstand details and configurations of hardware and software resourcesto establish and configure the cloud computing platform. Methods andapparatus disclosed herein facilitate the management of virtual machineresources in cloud computing platforms.

A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer,runs an operating system and applications. An operating system installedon a virtual machine is referred to as a guest operating system. Becauseeach virtual machine is an isolated computing environment, virtualmachines (VMs) can be used as desktop or workstation environments, astesting environments, to consolidate server applications, etc. Virtualmachines can run on hosts or clusters. The same host can run a pluralityof VMs, for example.

As disclosed in detail herein, methods and apparatus disclosed hereinprovide for automation of management tasks such as provisioning multiplevirtual machines for a multiple-machine computing system (e.g., a groupof servers that inter-operate), linking provisioned virtual machines andtasks to desired systems to execute those virtual machines or tasks,and/or reclaiming cloud computing resources that are no longer in use.The improvements to cloud management systems (e.g., the vCloudAutomation Center (vCAC) from VMware®, the vRealize Automation CloudAutomation Software from VMware®), interfaces, portals, etc. disclosedherein may be utilized individually and/or in any combination. Forexample, all or a subset of the described improvements may be utilized.

As used herein, availability refers to the level of redundancy requiredto provide continuous operation expected for the workload domain. Asused herein, performance refers to the computer processing unit (CPU)operating speeds (e.g., CPU gigahertz (GHz)), memory (e.g., gigabytes(GB) of random access memory (RAM)), mass storage (e.g., GB hard drivedisk (HDD), GB solid state drive (SSD)), and power capabilities of aworkload domain. As used herein, capacity refers to the aggregate numberof resources (e.g., aggregate storage, aggregate CPU, etc.) across allservers associated with a cluster and/or a workload domain. In someexamples, the number of resources (e.g., capacity) for a workload domainis determined based on the redundancy, the CPU operating speed, thememory, the storage, the security, and/or the power requirementsselected by a user. For example, more resources are required for aworkload domain as the user-selected requirements increase (e.g., higherredundancy, CPU speed, memory, storage, security, and/or power optionsrequire more resources than lower redundancy, CPU speed, memory,storage, security, and/or power options).

Example Virtualization Environments

Many different types of virtualization environments exist. Three exampletypes of virtualization environment are: full virtualization,paravirtualization, and operating system virtualization.

Full virtualization, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine. In a full virtualizationenvironment, the virtual machines do not have access to the underlyinghardware resources. In a typical full virtualization environment, a hostoperating system with embedded hypervisor (e.g., VMware ESXi®) isinstalled on the server hardware. Virtual machines including virtualhardware resources are then deployed on the hypervisor. A guestoperating system is installed in the virtual machine. The hypervisormanages the association between the hardware resources of the serverhardware and the virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines(e.g., associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtualRAM). Typically, in full virtualization, the virtual machine and theguest operating system have no visibility and/or access to the hardwareresources of the underlying server. Additionally, in fullvirtualization, a full guest operating system is typically installed inthe virtual machine while a host operating system is installed on theserver hardware. Example full virtualization environments include VMwareESX®, Microsoft Hyper-V®, and Kernel Based Virtual Machine (KVM).

Paravirtualization, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine and guest operating systems arealso allowed access to some or all of the underlying hardware resourcesof the server (e.g., without accessing an intermediate virtual hardwareresource). In a typical paravirtualization system, a host operatingsystem (e.g., a Linux-based operating system) is installed on the serverhardware. A hypervisor (e.g., the Xen® hypervisor) executes on the hostoperating system. Virtual machines including virtual hardware resourcesare then deployed on the hypervisor. The hypervisor manages theassociation between the hardware resources of the server hardware andthe virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines (e.g.,associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtual RAM). Inparavirtualization, the guest operating system installed in the virtualmachine is configured also to have direct access to some or all of thehardware resources of the server. For example, the guest operatingsystem may be precompiled with special drivers that allow the guestoperating system to access the hardware resources without passingthrough a virtual hardware layer. For example, a guest operating systemmay be precompiled with drivers that allow the guest operating system toaccess a sound card installed in the server hardware. Directly accessingthe hardware (e.g., without accessing the virtual hardware resources ofthe virtual machine) may be more efficient, may allow for performance ofoperations that are not supported by the virtual machine and/or thehypervisor, etc.

Operating system virtualization is also referred to herein as containervirtualization. As used herein, operating system virtualization refersto a system in which processes are isolated in an operating system. In atypical operating system virtualization system, a host operating systemis installed on the server hardware. Alternatively, the host operatingsystem may be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. The host operatingsystem of an operating system virtualization system is configured (e.g.,utilizing a customized kernel) to provide isolation and resourcemanagement for processes that execute within the host operating system(e.g., applications that execute on the host operating system). Theisolation of the processes is known as a container. Thus, a processexecutes within a container that isolates the process from otherprocesses executing on the host operating system. Thus, operating systemvirtualization provides isolation and resource management capabilitieswithout the resource overhead utilized by a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. Example operatingsystem virtualization environments include Linux Containers LXC and LXD,Docker™, OpenVZ™, etc.

In some instances, a data center (or pool of linked data centers) mayinclude multiple different virtualization environments. For example, adata center may include hardware resources that are managed by a fullvirtualization environment, a paravirtualization environment, and anoperating system virtualization environment. In such a data center, aworkload may be deployed to any of the virtualization environments.

FIG. 1 depicts an example system 100 constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.The example system 100 includes an application director 106 and a cloudmanager 138 to manage a cloud computing platform provider 110 asdescribed in more detail below. As described herein, the example system100 facilitates management of the cloud provider 110 and does notinclude the cloud provider 110. Alternatively, the system 100 could beincluded in the cloud provider 110.

The cloud computing platform provider 110 provisions virtual computingresources (e.g., virtual machines, or “VMs,” 114) that may be accessedby users of the cloud computing platform 110 (e.g., users associatedwith an administrator 116 and/or a developer 118) and/or other programs,software, device. etc.

An example application 102 of FIG. 1 includes multiple VMs 114. Theexample VMs 114 of FIG. 1 provide different functions within theapplication 102 (e.g., services, portions of the application 102, etc.).One or more of the VMs 114 of the illustrated example are customized byan administrator 116 and/or a developer 118 of the application 102relative to a stock or out-of-the-box (e.g., commonly availablepurchased copy) version of the services and/or application components.Additionally, the services executing on the example VMs 114 may havedependencies on other ones of the VMs 114.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the example cloud computing platform provider110 may provide multiple deployment environments 112, for example, fordevelopment, testing, staging, and/or production of applications. Theadministrator 116, the developer 118, other programs, and/or otherdevices may access services from the cloud computing platform provider110, for example, via REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs(Application Programming Interface) and/or via any other client-servercommunication protocol. Example implementations of a REST API for cloudcomputing services include a vCloud Administrator Center™ (vCAC) and/orvRealize Automation™ (vRA) API and a vCloud Director™ API available fromVMware, Inc. The example cloud computing platform provider 110provisions virtual computing resources (e.g., the VMs 114) to providethe deployment environments 112 in which the administrator 116 and/orthe developer 118 can deploy multi-tier application(s). One particularexample implementation of a deployment environment that may be used toimplement the deployment environments 112 of FIG. 1 is vCloud DataCentercloud computing services available from VMware, Inc.

In some examples disclosed herein, a lighter-weight virtualization isemployed by using containers in place of the VMs 114 in the developmentenvironment 112. Example containers 114 a are software constructs thatrun on top of a host operating system without the need for a hypervisoror a separate guest operating system. Unlike virtual machines, thecontainers 114 a do not instantiate their own operating systems. Likevirtual machines, the containers 114 a are logically separate from oneanother. Numerous containers can run on a single computer, processorsystem and/or in the same development environment 112. Also like virtualmachines, the containers 114 a can execute instances of applications orprograms (e.g., an example application 102 a) separate fromapplication/program instances executed by the other containers in thesame development environment 112.

The example application director 106 of FIG. 1, which may be running inone or more VMs, orchestrates deployment of multi-tier applications ontoone of the example deployment environments 112. As illustrated in FIG.1, the example application director 106 includes a topology generator120, a deployment plan generator 122, and a deployment director 124.

The example topology generator 120 generates a basic blueprint 126 thatspecifies a logical topology of an application to be deployed. Theexample basic blueprint 126 generally captures the structure of anapplication as a collection of application components executing onvirtual computing resources. For example, the basic blueprint 126generated by the example topology generator 120 for an online storeapplication may specify a web application (e.g., in the form of a Javaweb application archive or “WAR” file comprising dynamic web pages,static web pages, Java servlets, Java classes, and/or other property,configuration and/or resources files that make up a Java webapplication) executing on an application server (e.g., Apache Tomcatapplication server) that uses a database (e.g., MongoDB) as a datastore. As used herein, the term “application” generally refers to alogical deployment unit, comprised of one or more application packagesand their dependent middleware and/or operating systems. Applicationsmay be distributed across multiple VMs. Thus, in the example describedabove, the term “application” refers to the entire online storeapplication, including application server and database components,rather than just the web application itself. In some instances, theapplication may include the underlying hardware (e.g., virtual computinghardware) utilized to implement the components.

The example basic blueprint 126 of FIG. 1 may be assembled from items(e.g., templates) from a catalog 130, which is a listing of availablevirtual computing resources (e.g., VMs, networking, storage, etc.) thatmay be provisioned from the cloud computing platform provider 110 andavailable application components (e.g., software services, scripts, codecomponents, application-specific packages) that may be installed on theprovisioned virtual computing resources. The example catalog 130 may bepre-populated and/or customized by an administrator 116 (e.g., IT(Information Technology) or system administrator) that enters inspecifications, configurations, properties, and/or other details aboutitems in the catalog 130. Based on the application, the exampleblueprints 126 may define one or more dependencies between applicationcomponents to indicate an installation order of the applicationcomponents during deployment. For example, since a load balancer usuallycannot be configured until a web application is up and running, thedeveloper 118 may specify a dependency from an Apache service to anapplication code package.

The example deployment plan generator 122 of the example applicationdirector 106 of FIG. 1 generates a deployment plan 128 based on thebasic blueprint 126 that includes deployment settings for the basicblueprint 126 (e.g., virtual computing resources' cluster size, CPU,memory, networks, etc.) and an execution plan of tasks having aspecified order in which virtual computing resources are provisioned andapplication components are installed, configured, and started. Theexample deployment plan 128 of FIG. 1 provides an IT administrator witha process-oriented view of the basic blueprint 126 that indicatesdiscrete actions to be performed to deploy the application. Differentdeployment plans 128 may be generated from a single basic blueprint 126to test prototypes (e.g., new application versions), to scale up and/orscale down deployments, and/or to deploy the application to differentdeployment environments 112 (e.g., testing, staging, production). Thedeployment plan 128 is separated and distributed as local deploymentplans having a series of tasks to be executed by the VMs 114 provisionedfrom the deployment environment 112. Each VM 114 coordinates executionof each task with a centralized deployment module (e.g., the deploymentdirector 124) to ensure that tasks are executed in an order thatcomplies with dependencies specified in the application blueprint 126.

The example deployment director 124 of FIG. 1 executes the deploymentplan 128 by communicating with the cloud computing platform provider 110via a cloud interface 132 to provision and configure the VMs 114 in thedeployment environment 112. The example cloud interface 132 of FIG. 1provides a communication abstraction layer by which the applicationdirector 106 may communicate with a heterogeneous mixture of cloudprovider 110 and deployment environments 112. The deployment director124 provides each VM 114 with a series of tasks specific to thereceiving VM 114 (herein referred to as a “local deployment plan”).Tasks are executed by the VMs 114 to install, configure, and/or startone or more application components. For example, a task may be a scriptthat, when executed by a VM 114, causes the VM 114 to retrieve and/orinstall particular instructions from a repository 134.

In some examples, the repository 134 is implemented by a file share. Insome examples, the repository 134 is hosted by one or more VMs 114within the deployment environment 112. In some examples, the repository134 is implemented by one or more servers hosting files via a ServerMessage Block (SMB) share. Additionally or alternatively, files may bemade available via the repository 134 using any other file sharingand/or networking protocol such as, file transfer protocol (FTP),HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Common Internet File System (CIFS),etc. In some examples, the repository 134 may be implemented outside ofthe deployment environment 112.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 1, a single repository 134 is shown.However, in some examples, multiple repositories located in the same ordifferent locations may be utilized. For example, a first repository maybe managed and/or operated by a third party organization (e.g., aprofessional service organization (PSO)) that manages and/or developsinstructions (e.g., develops executable code, develops workflows, etc.)for use within the deployment environment 112, while a second repositorymay be managed and/or operated within the deployment environment 112.Using a repository managed and/or operated within the deploymentenvironment enables the administrator 116 to prepare instructions (e.g.,batch files, PowerShell™ commands, etc.) that can be subsequentlydistributed to management agents for execution.

As noted above, the repository 134 stores instructions for execution atone or more VMs 114. In some examples, the instructions are PowerShell™commands and/or scripts (e.g., .PS1 files). However, any other type(s)and/or format(s) of instructions may additionally or alternatively beused. For example, the instructions may be executable instructions,archives of executable instructions, installers, batch files, scripts,etc.

In some examples, the instructions, when distributed to and/or executedby the VM 114, may cause one or component(s) of the VM 114 to becomeupdated. In this manner, the administrator 116 can efficiently upgradeand/or update components of the VMs 114 in bulk, rather than having toindividually administer each VM 114. In some examples, prior approachesto upgrading components of multiple VMs 114 in the deploymentenvironment 112 (e.g., tens of VMs, hundreds of VMs, etc.) might take anadministrator days to complete. Utilizing the approaches disclosedherein where instructions for execution by a management agent of each VM114 are administered and distributed via a centralized managementendpoint reduces the amount of time required to perform such upgradesand/or updates.

The example deployment director 124 coordinates with the VMs 114 toexecute the tasks in an order that observes installation dependenciesbetween VMs 114 according to the deployment plan 128. After theapplication has been deployed, the application director 106 may beutilized to monitor and/or modify (e.g., scale) the deployment.

The example cloud manager 138 of FIG. 1 interacts with the components ofthe system 100 (e.g., the application director 106 and the cloudprovider 110) to facilitate the management of the resources of the cloudprovider 110. The example cloud manager 138 includes a blueprint manager140 to facilitate the creation and management of multi-machineblueprints and a resource manager 144 to reclaim unused cloud resources.The cloud manager 138 may additionally include other components formanaging a cloud environment.

The example blueprint manager 140 of the illustrated example manages thecreation of multi-machine blueprints that define the attributes ofmultiple virtual machines as a single container that can be provisioned,deployed, managed, etc. as a single unit. For example, a multi-machineblueprint may include definitions for multiple basic blueprints thatmake up a service (e.g., an e-commerce provider that includes webservers, application servers, and database servers). A basic blueprintis a definition of policies (e.g., hardware policies, security policies,network policies, etc.) for a single machine (e.g., a single virtualmachine such as a web server virtual machine). Accordingly, theblueprint manager 140 facilitates more efficient management of multiplevirtual machines than manually managing (e.g., deploying) virtualmachine basic blueprints individually. The management of multi-machineblueprints is described in further detail in conjunction with FIG. 2.

The example blueprint manager 140 of FIG. 1 additionally annotates basicblueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints to control how workflowsassociated with the basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints areexecuted. A workflow is a series of actions and decisions to be executedin a virtual computing platform. The example system 100 includes firstand second distributed execution manager(s) (DEM(s)) 146A and 146B toexecute workflows. According to the illustrated example, the first DEM146A includes a first set of characteristics and is physically locatedat a first location 148A. The second DEM 146B includes a second set ofcharacteristics and is physically located at a second location 148B. Thelocation and characteristics of a DEM may make that DEM more suitablefor performing certain workflows. For example, a DEM may includehardware particularly suited for performance of certain tasks (e.g.,high-end calculations), may be located in a desired area (e.g., forcompliance with local laws that require certain operations to bephysically performed within a country's boundaries), may specify alocation or distance to other DEMS for selecting a nearby DEM (e.g., forreducing data transmission latency), etc. Thus, the example blueprintmanager 140 annotates basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprintswith skills that can be performed by a DEM that is labeled with the sameskill.

The resource manager 144 of the illustrated example facilitates recoveryof cloud computing resources of the cloud provider 110 that are nolonger being activity utilized. Automated reclamation may includeidentification, verification and/or reclamation of unused,underutilized, etc. resources to improve the efficiency of the runningcloud infrastructure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the blueprint 126 as amulti-machine blueprint generated by the example blueprint manager 140of FIG. 1. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, three example basicblueprints (a web server blueprint 202, an application server blueprint204, and a database (DB) server blueprint 206) have been created (e.g.,by the topology generator 120). For example, the web server blueprint202, the application server blueprint 204, and the database serverblueprint 206 may define the components of an e-commerce online store.

The example blueprint manager 140 provides a user interface for a userof the blueprint manager 140 (e.g., the administrator 116, the developer118, etc.) to specify blueprints (e.g., basic blueprints and/ormulti-machine blueprints) to be assigned to an instance of amulti-machine blueprint 208. For example, the user interface may includea list of previously generated basic blueprints (e.g., the web serverblueprint 202, the application server blueprint 204, the database serverblueprint 206, etc.) to allow selection of desired blueprints. Theblueprint manager 140 combines the selected blueprints into thedefinition of the multi-machine blueprint 208 and stores informationabout the blueprints in a multi-machine blueprint record defining themulti-machine blueprint 208. The blueprint manager 140 may additionallyinclude a user interface to specify other characteristics correspondingto the multi-machine blueprint 208. For example, a creator of themulti-machine blueprint 208 may specify a minimum and maximum number ofeach blueprint component of the multi-machine blueprint 208 that may beprovisioned during provisioning of the multi-machine blueprint 208.

Accordingly, any number of virtual machines (e.g., the virtual machinesassociated with the blueprints in the multi-machine blueprint 208) maybe managed collectively. For example, the multiple virtual machinescorresponding to the multi-machine blueprint 208 may be provisionedbased on an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint 208,may be power cycled by an instruction, may be shut down by aninstruction, may be booted by an instruction, etc. As illustrated inFIG. 2, an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint 208 mayresult in the provisioning of a multi-machine service formed from one ormore VMs 114 that includes web server(s) 210A, application server(s)210B, and database server(s) 210C. The number of machines provisionedfor each blueprint may be specified during the provisioning of themulti-machine blueprint 208 (e.g., subject to the limits specifiedduring creation or management of the multi-machine blueprint 208).

The multi-machine blueprint 208 maintains the reference to the basicblueprints 202, 204, 206. Accordingly, changes made to the blueprints(e.g., by a manager of the blueprints different than the manager of themulti-machine blueprint 208) may be incorporated into futureprovisioning of the multi-machine blueprint 208. Accordingly, anadministrator maintaining the source blueprints (e.g., an administratorcharged with managing the web server blueprint 202) may change or updatethe source blueprint and the changes may be propagated to the machinesprovisioned from the multi-machine blueprint 208. For example, if anoperating system update is applied to a disk image referenced by the webserver blueprint 202 (e.g., a disk image embodying the primary disk ofthe web server blueprint 202), the updated disk image is utilized whendeploying the multi-machine blueprint. Additionally, the blueprints mayspecify that the machines 210A, 210B, 210C of the multi-machine service210 provisioned from the multi-machine blueprint 208 operate indifferent environments. For example, some components may be physicalmachines, some may be on-premise virtual machines, and some may bevirtual machines at a cloud service.

Several multi-machine blueprints may be generated to provide one or morevaried or customized services. For example, if virtual machines deployedin the various States of the United States require different settings, amulti-machine blueprint could be generated for each state. Themulti-machine blueprints could reference the same build profile and/ordisk image, but may include different settings specific to each state.For example, the deployment workflow may include an operation to set alocality setting of an operating system to identify a particular Statein which a resource is physically located. Thus, a single disk image maybe utilized for multiple multi-machine blueprints reducing the amount ofstorage space for storing disk images compared with storing a disk imagefor each customized setting.

FIG. 3A illustrates an example installation of deployed VMs 114 (alsoreferred to as appliances or virtual appliances (vAs)) and associatedservers acting as hosts for deployment of component servers (e.g., Webserver, application server, database server, etc.) for a customer. ThevAs can be deployed as an automation tool, for example, used to deliverVMs and associated applications for on-premise automation and/orhandling of external cloud resources (e.g., Microsoft Azure™, Amazon WebServices™, etc.).

As shown in the example of FIG. 3A, an installation 300 includes a loadbalancer (LB) 310 to assign tasks and/or manage access among a pluralityof vAs 320, 322, 324. In some examples, the example vA 320 executes theexample catalog 130, the example repository 134, the example applicationdirector 106, the example cloud manager 138, etc. Each vA 320-324 is adeployed VM 114, and the vA 320 communicates with a plurality ofcomponent or host servers 330, 332, 334, 336 which store components forexecution by users (e.g., Web server 210A with Web components, Appserver 210B with application components, DB server 210C with databasecomponents, etc.). In some examples, the example component server 330,332, 334, 336 executes the example distributed Execution Manager(s)146A. Additionally or alternatively, the example component server 330,332, 334, 336 may perform any functionality that is performed by the vA320 such as, the example catalog 130, the example repository 134, theexample application director 106, the example cloud manager 138, etc.Performing functionality that would have been performed by the vA 320 atthe component server 330, 332, 334, 336 enables processing loads thatwould otherwise be concentrated at a VM 114 hosting the vA 320 to bedistributed to a different VM 114.

As shown in the example of FIG. 3A, component servers 334, 336 can stemfrom component server 330 rather than directly from the virtualappliance 320, although the vA 320 can still communicate with suchservers 334, 336. The LB 310 enables the multiple vAs 320-324 andmultiple servers 330-336 to appear as one device to a user. Access tofunctionality can then be distributed among appliances 320-324 by the LB310 and among servers 330-336 by the respective appliance 320, forexample. The LB 310 can use least response time, round-robin, and/orother method to balance traffic to vAs 320-324 and servers 330-336, forexample.

In the example installation 300, each vA 320, 322, 324 includes amanagement endpoint 340, 342, 344. Each component server 330, 332, 334,336 includes a management agent 350, 352, 354, 356. The managementagents 350-356 can communicate with their respective endpoint 340 tofacilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., for example.

In certain examples, a graphical user interface associated with a frontend of the load balancer 310 guides a customer through one or morequestions to determine system requirements for the installation 300.Once the customer has completed the questionnaire and provided firewallaccess to install the agents 350-356, the agents 350-356 communicatewith the endpoint 340 without customer involvement. Thus, for example,if a new employee needs a Microsoft Windows® machine, a manager selectsan option (e.g., clicks a button, etc.) via the graphical user interfaceto install a VM 114 that is managed through the installation 300. To theuser, he or she is working on a single machine, but behind the scenes,the virtual appliance 320 is accessing different servers 330- 336depending upon what functionality is to be executed.

In certain examples, agents 350-356 are deployed in a same data centeras the endpoint 340 to which the agents 350-356 are associated. Thedeployment can include a plurality of agent servers 330-336 distributedworldwide, and the deployment can be scalable to accommodate additionalserver(s) with agent(s) to increase throughput and concurrency, forexample.

In some examples, a management agent 350 is included in the virtualappliance 320, 322, 324 to facilitate execution of instructions at thevirtual appliance 320, 322, 324. For example, the example managementendpoint 340 might instruct a management agent operated at the virtualappliance 320 to execute an instruction to update the managementendpoint 340. In some examples, the instructions that can be executed bya management agent operated at the virtual appliance 320 are differentfrom the instructions that can be executed by a management agentoperated at the component server 330, 332, 334, 336. For example, if thevirtual appliance 320 were operated in a Linux environment and thecomponent server 330 were operated in a Microsoft Windows® environment,the instructions supported by a management agent operated in each ofthose environments may be different (e.g., some of the instructions maybe restricted and/or may not be available for execution on one or moreof the systems).

FIG. 3B is a block diagram representing an example arrangement 380 ofthe virtual appliance 320 of FIG. 3A operating the management endpoint340, and the component server 330 of FIG. 3A operating the managementagent 350. In the illustrated example of FIG. 3B, both the vA 320 andthe component server 330 of FIG. 3B are operated within the samedeployment environment 112. In the illustrated example of FIG. 3B, theexample vA 320 includes the management endpoint 340 and the repository134. In some examples, the repository 134 is implemented by anothercomponent of the deployment environment 112 that is separate from the vA320. The example component server 330 includes the management agent 350and a PowerShell™ runtime environment 389. The example PowerShell™runtime environment 389 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3B isimplemented by the Microsoft™ PowerShell™ framework. The PowerShell™runtime environment 389 executes PowerShell™ scripts, commands, files,etc. at the direction of the management agent 350. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 3B, the PowerShell™ runtime environment 389 is specificto implementations on component server(s) 330, 332, 334 that implement aMicrosoft™ Windows™ Operating system. However, any other runtimeenvironment and/or instruction execution system may additionally oralternatively be used. For example, the example PowerShell™ runtimeenvironment 389 may be replaced by a script interpreter (e.g., a Perlinterpreter, a Python interpreter, etc.).

While, in the illustrated example of FIG. 3B, the management agent 350interfaces with the PowerShell™ runtime environment 389, not allinstructions to be executed at the component server 330 are executedoutside of the management agent 350. In some examples, the managementagent 350 may execute instructions internally without interfacing withthe PowerShell™ runtime environment 389 (or some other external runtimeenvironment). In some examples, functionality of the management agent350 can be extended using a plug-in framework. That is, functionalitycan dynamically be added to the management agent 350 to enable newinstructions to be executed internal to the management agent 350,without requiring a new version of the management agent 350 to bedeployed. For example, whereas a command issued by the managementendpoint 340 to the management agent 350 requesting that the managementagent 350 report the local time of the component server 330 mightordinarily cause the management agent 350 to interface with thePowerShell™ runtime environment 389 to retrieve the local system time,such functionality can be added to the management agent 350 (e.g., afunction may be executed within the management agent 350 to retrieve thelocal system time). Thus, interfacing with the PowerShell™ runtimeenvironment 389 might not be necessary. As a result, computationaloverhead involved with invoking external runtime environments (e.g., thePowerShell™ runtime environment 389) is reduced.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 3B, the example management agent 350requests an indication of an instruction to be executed from themanagement endpoint 340 (line 381). The management endpoint 340 providesthe indication of the instruction to be executed to the management agent350 (line 382). In some examples, the indication of the instruction tobe executed is formatted as a name of a command and parameters that areto be used when executing the command. However, the example indicationof the instruction may be provided in any other format, such as, anextensible markup language (XML) document that identifies, for example,a name of the instruction to be executed (e.g., “Get Local Time”), alocation from which the instruction is to be retrieved, one or moreparameter (e.g., command line parameters) that are to be used and/orspecified when executing the instruction, an expected result of theinstruction, and/or any other information to facilitate execution of theinstruction at the component server 330. As used herein, a command is acollection of one or more instructions that can be executed internallywith respect to the management agent 350. While a command is executedinternally with respect to the management agent 350, in some examples,execution of the command (and/or instructions associated with thecommand) may invoke execution of instructions external to the managementagent 350 (e.g., may invoke execution of a PowerShell™ script, anexecutable file, etc.).

The management agent 350 attempts to identify whether the command isknown to the management agent 350 (e.g., the command can be implementedby a package that is currently loaded by the management agent 350, orthe command is implemented by a package that is stored locally and canbe loaded by the management agent 350, etc.) and, if the managementagent 350 determines that the command is not known to the managementagent 350, the management agent 350 requests a package (line 383) fromthe management endpoint 340 that, when loaded by the management agent350, enables the management agent 350 to execute the command named inthe indication of the instruction to be executed. In the illustratedexample of FIG. 3B, the management endpoint 340 provides the package tothe management agent 350 (line 384). The management agent 350 then loadsthe package, and executes the command named in the indication of theinstruction to be executed (which was enabled via the loading of theprovided package). In some examples, the execution of the command namedin the indication of the instruction causes the management agent 350 tointerface with the PowerShell™ runtime environment 389 to execute otherinstructions (line 388) (e.g., a PowerShell™ script, an executable file,etc.). In some examples, the other instructions are provided as part ofthe package. In some examples, the package is implemented using anarchive file (e.g., a .zip file, a .rar file, etc.) that includescomponents to be executed (e.g., dynamically linked library (DLL) files,plugin files, binary executables, etc.) and a description file. Thedescription file is formatted as an extensible markup language (XML)file and identifies commands that are supported by one or more of thecomponents to be executed, for example.

FIG. 3C is a block diagram representing an example alternativearrangement 390 of the virtual appliance of FIG. 3A operating themanagement endpoint, and the component server of FIG. 3A operating themanagement agent. In contrast to the example arrangement 380 of FIG. 3B,the example arrangement 390 of FIG. 3C implements the example repository134 at a third party site 399 that is outside of the deploymentenvironment 112. In such an example, instead of the management endpoint340 directly providing the package to the management agent 350, themanagement endpoint 340 may provide a link to the package and/or otherinformation identifying where the package can be retrieved (line 394).The management agent 350 then requests the package from the repository134 (line 395), and receives a response including the package (line396). The management agent 350 then loads the package, and executes thecommand named in the indication of the instruction to be executed (whichwas enabled via the loading of the provided package).

In the illustrated example of FIG. 3C, the repository 134 from which themanagement agent 350 retrieves the package is managed and/or operated bya third party organization (e.g., a professional service organization(PSO)) that manages and/or develops instructions (e.g., developsexecutable code, develops workflows, develops plugins, etc.). Such anapproach enables an administrator of the deployment environment toeasily work with third party software providers (e.g., consultants,PSOs, plugin providers, etc.) that create instructions (e.g., executablefiles, plugin files, etc.) that may be customized for the deploymentenvironment 112. In this manner, the administrator can simply direct themanagement endpoint 340 to cause the management agents 350 to retrievethe instructions from the repository 134 hosted at the third party site399 by the third party organization, and execute those instructions.Such an approach alleviates storage needs within the deploymentenvironment 112. Such an approach also facilitates more rapiddevelopment and deployment of instructions, as instructions need notfirst be populated into a repository within the deployment environment112.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example implementation of the vA 320. In theexample of FIG. 4, the vA 320 includes a service provisioner 410, anorchestrator 420, an event broker 430, an authentication provider 440,an internal reverse proxy 450, a database 460, and the managementendpoint 340 (see FIG. 3A). The components 410, 420, 430, 440, 450, 460,340 of the vA 320 may be implemented by one or more of the VMs 114. Theexample service provisioner 410 provides services to provisioninterfaces (e.g., Web interface, application interface, etc.) for the vA320. The example orchestrator (e.g., vCO) 420 is an embedded or internalorchestrator that can leverage a provisioning manager, such as theapplication director 106 and/or cloud manager 138, to provision VMservices but is embedded in the vA 320. For example, the vCO 420 can beused to invoke a blueprint to provision a manager for services. Theexample management endpoint 340 interfaces within management agents(e.g., management agent 350) of respective component servers (e.g.,component server 330) to provide indications of instructions to beexecuted by the management agent(s) 350 and/or receive results and/orstatuses of execution of those instructions. An example implementationof an example management agent 350 is disclosed below in connection withFIG. 6.

Example services can include catalog services, identity services,component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, repositoryservices, etc. Catalog services provide a user interface via which auser can request provisioning of different preset environments (e.g., aVM including an operating system and software and some customization,etc.), for example. Identity services facilitate authentication andauthorization of users and assigned roles, for example. The componentregistry maintains information installed and deployed services (e.g.,uniform resource locators for services installed in a VM/vA, etc.), forexample. The event broker 430 provides a messaging broker forevent-based communication, for example. The IaaS provisions one or moreVMs for a customer via the vA 320.

Repository services enable the vA 320 to operate a repository such as,the repository 134 of FIG. 1. In this manner, the repository 134 may beimplemented within the deployment environment 112 (e.g., as a componentof the vA 320) and/or external to the deployment environment 112.Implementing the repository 134 within the deployment environment 112enables an administrator 116 of the deployment environment 112 to hostinstructions for execution at monitoring agents within the deploymentenvironment. In this manner, an administrator can implementconfigurations that are specific to their deployment environment 112without having to reference a third party and/or publicly availablerepository. In contrast, in some examples, the repository 134 may behosted outside of the deployment environment 112 (e.g., within anotherdeployment environment hosted by the cloud provider 110, outside of thecontrol of the cloud provider 110, etc.) Implementing the repository 134outside of the deployment environment 112 enables the administrator 116to configure the management endpoint 340 to instruct one or moremanagement endpoints 350 to retrieve and/or execute instructions hostedby a third party (e.g., a developer, a professional servicesorganization (PSO), a publicly available website, etc.). Such anapproach is useful when a third party provides instructions (e.g.,executables) that may be updated by the third party.

The example event broker 430 provides a mechanism to handle tasks whichare transferred between services with the orchestrator 420. The exampleauthentication provider 440 (e.g., VMware Horizon™ services, etc.)authenticates access to services and data, for example.

The components of the vA 320 access each other through REST API callsbehind the internal reverse proxy 450 (e.g., a high availability (HA)proxy HAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer andproxy for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)- and Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP)-based application requests. The proxy 450 forwardscommunication traffic from within the vA 320 and/or between vAs 320,322, 324 of FIG. 3A to the appropriate component(s) of the vA 320. Incertain examples, services access the local host/proxy 450 on aparticular port, and the call is masked by the proxy 450 and forwardedto the particular component of the vA 320. Since the call is masked bythe proxy 450, components can be adjusted within the vA 320 withoutimpacting outside users.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram representing an example implementation of theexample management endpoint 340 of the example VA 320 of FIGS. 3A, 3B,3C and/or 4. The example management endpoint 340 of FIG. 5 includes amanagement agent interface 510, a queue manager 520, an instructionqueue 530, a result data store 540, a result interface 550, and apackage provider 560.

The example management agent interface 510 of the illustrated example ofFIG. 5 implements a REST (Representational State Transfer) API(Application Programming Interface) that is responsive to requests fromthe management agent 350 for indications of instructions in theinstruction queue 530. In some examples, the example management agentinterface 510 handles incoming requests from management agent(s), andidentifies an instruction stored in the instruction queue 530 to beexecuted by the management agent from which the request was received.The example management agent interface 510 responds to the request withan indication of the instruction to be executed. In some examples, theindication of the instruction to be executed is formatted as a name of acommand and parameters to be used when executing the command. That is,the indication of the instruction may not include the instructions to beexecuted itself, but rather, might identify to the management agent 350the instructions that are to be executed.

As noted above, the example management agent interface 510 implements aREST API. However, any other approach to implementing the examplemanagement agent interface 510 may additionally or alternatively beused. In some examples, the management agent 350 periodically and/oraperiodically polls and/or otherwise requests instructions from themanagement agent interface 510. The example management agent interface510 responds to such requests with an indication of an instruction (ifany) to be executed by the example management agent 350. However, anyother approach to informing the example management agent 350 mayadditionally or alternatively be used. For example, the examplemanagement agent interface 510 may provide an interface for themanagement agent 350 to subscribe to indications of instructions fromthe management endpoint 340 such that the management agent interface 510contacts the management agent 350 to inform the management agent 350 ofthe instruction for execution. Such an approach may be implemented usinga REST subscription interface. However, any other type of subscriptioninterface may additionally or alternatively be used.

The example queue manager 520 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5manages a queue of instructions to be executed by the example managementagent 350. In some examples, instructions are added to the queue at therequest of an administrator. However, instructions may be added to thequeue in response to any other event such as, a scheduled task, an erroridentified by a management agent, etc. In some examples, multipledifferent queues are managed corresponding to multiple differentmanagement agents that work in communication with the managementendpoint 340. Upon receipt of an indication of whether an instruction inthe queue has been executed at a component server, the example queuemanager 520 removes the instruction from the instruction queue 530associated with that component server. However, in some examples, theinstruction may remain in the queue, but be labeled with a status of theexecution of the instruction. In this manner, when a request is receivedfor an instruction to be executed, a result of such query might belimited to only those instructions where execution has not already beenattempted.

The example instruction queue 530 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5stores indications of instructions to be executed at a component servers330 (at the direction of the management agent 350 of each componentserver 330). In some examples, additional parameters concerning theindication of the instructions are also stored in the instruction queue530 such as, a name of the command and/or instruction to be executed, alocation from which the command and/or instruction is to be retrieved(e.g., where a package that supports execution of the command and/orinstruction can be found), one or more parameters (e.g., command lineparameters) that are to be used and/or specified when executing thecommand and/or instruction, an expected result, an indication of one ormore commands and/or instructions to be executed and/or actions to beperformed when a result of the execution of the command and/orinstruction does not match the expected result, and/or any otherinformation to facilitate execution of the command and/or instruction atthe component server 330. In some examples, the example instructionqueue 530 may be any device for storing data such as, flash memory,magnetic media, optical media, etc. Furthermore, the data stored in theexample instruction queue 530 may be in any data format such as, binarydata, comma delimited data, tab delimited data, structured querylanguage (SQL) structures, etc. While, in the illustrated example, theexample instruction queue 530 is illustrated as a single database, theexample instruction queue 530 may be implemented by any number and/ortype(s) of databases.

The example result data store 540 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5stores results of the execution of instructions by the management agents350. In some examples, the example result data store 540 may be anydevice for storing data such as, flash memory, magnetic media, opticalmedia, etc. Furthermore, the data stored in the example result datastore 540 may be in any data format such as, binary data, commadelimited data, tab delimited data, structured query language (SQL)structures, etc. While, in the illustrated example, the example resultdata store 540 is illustrated as a single database, the example resultdata store 540 may be implemented by any number and/or type(s) ofdatabases.

The example result interface 550 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5enables an administrator to review the results of the instructionexecution(s) stored in the example result data stored 540. In someexamples, the example result interface 550 is implemented as a webpage.However, any other approach to implementing the result interface 550 mayadditionally or alternatively be used.

The example package provider 560 of the illustrated example of FIG. 5responds to a request for a package received via the management agentinterface 510. In the illustrated example of FIG. 5, the request for apackage indicates a command that was identified to a management agent350 for execution. The example package provider 560 searches therepository 134 for a package that implements the identified command, andprovides the identified package, a link to the package to the managementagent 350, or an error message indicating that the package could not befound, for example.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram representing an example implementation of theexample component server 330 of the illustrated example of FIG. 3A. Theexample component server 330 includes the management agent 350, aninstruction executor 610, and an instruction cache 620. The examplemanagement agent 350 includes a management endpoint interface 630, aninstruction retriever 640, an instruction validator 650, an instructionexecutor interface 660, a result cache 670, a command cache 675, and acommand executor 680.

The example instruction executor 610 of the illustrated example of FIG.6 executes instructions stored in the instruction cache 620 at therequest of the instruction executor interface 660. The exampleinstruction executor 610 is implemented by a command execution frameworksuch as, for example the Microsoft™ PowerShell™ framework. However, anyother type of command execution framework such as, a scriptinginterpreter framework (e.g., Perl, Python, etc.), an executableframework, an operating system kernel, etc., may additionally oralternatively be used.

In some examples, the example instruction executor 610 is separate fromthe management agent 350. Since the instruction executor 610 is separatefrom the management agent 350, the instruction executor 610 can executeinstructions that affect the operation of the management agent 350. Forexample, the instruction executor 610 may execute an instruction thatcauses the management agent 350 to become updated and/or upgraded. Suchan upgrade and/or installation of the management agent 350 may involveuninstalling the management agent 350 having a first version andsubsequently installing the management agent 350 having a secondversion. In some examples, the management agent 350 might alternativelybe downgraded to address, for example, an issue encountered subsequentto a prior upgrade and/or installation. Enabling the management agent350 to be updated and/or upgraded by the instruction executor 610 isbeneficial because, through the use of distributed execution of suchinstallations, upgrades can be completed in a more timely fashion ascompared to manual installation of an upgrade. In this manner, hundredsor thousands of management agents can rapidly be upgraded, rebooted,restarted, etc.

The example instruction cache 620 of the illustrated example of FIG. 6is a local storage of the component server 330. In some examples, theexample instruction cache 620 is a directory within a file system hostedby the example component server 330. However, in some examples, theexample instruction cache 620 may be implemented by any type of filestorage system. In some examples, the example instruction cache 620 maybe remote from the component server 330.

The example management endpoint interface 630 of the illustrated exampleof FIG. 6 transmits a request to the management endpoint 340 for anindication of an instruction to be executed at the component server 330.In some examples, the request is formatted using a representationalstate transfer (REST) protocol. However, any other past, present, and/orfuture protocol and/or approach for requesting an indication of aninstruction to be executed may additionally or alternatively be used. Insome examples, the example management endpoint 340 responds to therequest with an indication of the instruction to be executed. Theexample indication of the instruction to be executed is formatted as acommand to be executed by the command executor 680. However, any othertype and/or format for the indication of the instruction to be executedmay additionally or alternatively be used.

In some examples, the management endpoint interface 630 periodicallypolls and/or otherwise requests instructions from the managementendpoint 340. However, any other periodic and/or aperiodic approach torequesting an indication of an instruction from the management endpoint340 may additionally or alternatively be used such as, polling themanagement endpoint 340 when resources of the component server 330 areidle, polling the management endpoint 340 in response to completion ofexecution of a prior instruction, etc. In some examples, the examplemanagement endpoint interface 630 may subscribe to indications ofinstructions from the management endpoint 340 such that the managementendpoint 340 contacts the management endpoint interface 630 via thesubscription connection to inform the management agent 350 of theinstruction for execution. Such an approach may be implemented using aREST subscription interface. However, any other type of subscriptioninterface may additionally or alternatively be used.

The example instruction retriever 640 of the illustrated example of FIG.6 determines whether command and/or instructions identified in theindication received from the management endpoint 340 are loaded in thecommand cache 675 and/or are stored in the instruction cache 620 and, ifnot, attempts to retrieve the instructions from the management endpoint.In some examples, the example instruction retriever 640 inspects pluginsloaded in the command cache 675 for a plugin that can operate thecommand. In some examples, the example instruction retriever 640inspects package files stored in the instruction cache 620 by, forexample, inspecting a description file identifying the commandssupported by each corresponding package file. In some examples, theexample instruction retriever 640 retrieves the package from therepository 134 at the direction of the management endpoint 340. That is,in some examples, when providing the indication of the instruction to beexecuted, the management endpoint 340 identifies the repository and/oranother location where the package may be retrieved. In some examples,the indication of the instruction to be executed also identifies aversion of the instruction and/or package (e.g., version 1.2) to beexecuted and/or loaded into the command cache 675. In such an example,in addition to determining that the instruction and/or package ispresent in the instruction cache 620, the example instruction retriever640 verifies whether a specified version of the instruction and/orpackage is either loaded in the command cache 675 and/or is present inthe instruction cache 620. If the specified version is not loaded and/orpresent, the specified version of the instruction and/or package iseither loaded into the command cache 675 or is retrieved from therepository 134 and loaded into the command cache 675.

The example instruction executor interface 660 of the illustratedexample of FIG. 6 interacts with the instruction executor 610 to causethe instruction executor 610 to execute the instructions stored in theinstruction cache 620 (e.g., the file system of the component server330). In some examples, the instructions may be stored in theinstruction cache 620 as a result of requesting the package from themanagement agent 340. In some examples, the example instruction executorinterface 660 provides input parameters to the instruction executor 610specified in the indication of the instruction to be executed providedby the management endpoint 340.

As noted above, the example instruction executor 610 is separate fromthe management agent 350 and/or the example instruction executorinterface 660. The example instruction executor 610 executes theinstructions in a separate execution space from the instruction executorinterface 660 and, more generally, the management agent 350. As aresult, at the direction of the instruction executor interface 660, theinstruction executor 610 can execute instructions that affect theoperation of the management agent 350.

The example instruction executor interface 660 of the illustratedexample of FIG. 6 monitors an output of the instruction executor 610. Insome examples, the example instruction executor interface 660 monitors astandard output (e.g., a command line output) of the instructionexecutor 610. However, any other approach to monitoring an output of theexample instruction executor 610 may additionally or alternatively beused such as, a standard error interface, an event log, an output file,etc. The example instruction executor interface 660 passes the result ofthe execution of the instruction to the example command executor 680,which may store the result in the example result cache 670.

While enabling the management agent 350 to interact with an externalinstruction executor 610 allows a wide range of instructions to beexecuted, not all instructions are executed outside of the managementagent 350. In some examples, it is more computationally efficient toexecute commands internal to the management agent. For example,instructions may be loaded into the command cache 675 for execution bythe command executor 680. By loading instructions into the command cache675, the command cache 675 and/or the command executor 680 can implementa plugin framework. As used herein, a plugin (sometimes referred to as aplug-in, an add-in, an add-on, an extension, etc.) is a softwarecomponent that adds a specific feature to an existing system. The pluginframework enables third party developers (e.g., PSOs) to developextensions and/or additional functionality to be implemented within themanagement agent 350. Utilizing a plugin framework also enables areduction in the memory resources utilized by the management agent 350,as components of the management agent 350 are loaded into memory ondemand (e.g., as they are to be used), instead of every possiblecomponent being loaded into memory upon initialization of the managementagent 350.

The example command cache 675 of the illustrated example of FIG. 6 isimplemented by a memory space utilized by the management agent 350. Insome examples, a portion of a package (e.g., one or more dynamicallylinked libraries (DLLs)) is loaded into the command cache 675 from theinstruction cache 620 such that commands and/or functions provided bythe portion of the package can be executed by the command executor 680.In some examples, the example instruction retriever 640 inspects thecommand cache 675 to determine whether a command identified forexecution by the management agent 350 is loaded.

The example command executor 680 executes commands and/or instructionsloaded in the command cache 675 at the direction of the managementendpoint interface 630. In some examples, execution of the commandsand/or instructions loaded in the command cache 675 involvescommunicating with the instruction executor interface 660 to interfacewith the instruction executor 610. That is, in some examples, thecommands and/or instructions loaded in the command cache 675 may invokesome instructions to be executed by an execution framework outside ofthe management agent 350. In the illustrated example of FIG. 6, theexample command executor 680 stores results of the execution of thecommands and/or instructions loaded in the command cache 675 and/or theinstructions executed by the instruction executor 610 in the resultcache 670.

The example result cache 670 of the illustrated example of FIG. 6 storesexecution results collected by the command executor and/or instructionexecutor interface 660. Results stored in the example result cache 670may be cleared (e.g., deleted and/or otherwise removed) from the resultcache 670 when the example management endpoint interface 630 transmitsthe results stored in the result cache 670 to the management endpoint340. In some examples, the example result cache 670 may be any devicefor storing data such as, flash memory, magnetic media, optical media,etc. Furthermore, the data stored in the example result cache 670 may bein any data format such as, binary data, comma delimited data, tabdelimited data, structured query language (SQL) structures, etc. While,in the illustrated example, the example result cache 670 is illustratedas a single database, the example result cache 670 may be implemented byany number and/or type(s) of databases.

While an example manner of implementing the example management endpoint340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 4 is illustrated in FIG. 5, and anexample manner of implementing the example management agent 350 of FIG.3A is illustrated in FIG. 6, one or more of the elements, processesand/or devices illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, 5, and/or 6 may becombined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implementedin any other way. Further, the example management agent interface 510,the example queue manager 520, the example instruction queue 530, theexample result data store 540, the example result interface 550, theexample package provider 560, and/or, more generally, the examplemanagement endpoint 340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5, and/or theexample management endpoint interface 630, the example instructionretriever 640, the example instruction validator 650, the exampleinstruction executor interface 660, the example result cache 670, theexample command cache 675, the example command executor 680, and/or,more generally, the example management agent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3Cand/or 6 may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware and/or anycombination of hardware, software and/or firmware. Thus, for example,any of the example management agent interface 510, the example queuemanager 520, the example instruction queue 530, the example result datastore 540, the example result interface 550, the example packageprovider 560, and/or, more generally, the example management endpoint340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5, and/or the example managementendpoint interface 630, the example instruction retriever 640, theexample instruction validator 650, the example instruction executorinterface 660, the example result cache 670, the example command cache675, the example command executor 680, and/or, more generally, theexample management agent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6 could beimplemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), application specific integrated circuit(s)(ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of theapparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example managementagent interface 510, the example queue manager 520, the exampleinstruction queue 530, the example result data store 540, the exampleresult interface 550, the example package provider 560, and/or, moregenerally, the example management endpoint 340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4,and/or 5, and/or the example management endpoint interface 630, theexample instruction retriever 640, the example instruction validator650, the example instruction executor interface 660, the example resultcache 670, the example command cache 675, the example command executor680, and/or, more generally, the example management agent 350 of FIGS.3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6 is/are hereby expressly defined to include atangible computer readable storage device or storage disk such as amemory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-raydisk, etc. storing the software and/or firmware. Further still, theexample management endpoint 340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5, and/orthe example management agent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or 6 mayinclude one or more elements, processes and/or devices in addition to,or instead of, those illustrated in FIG. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, 5, and/or 6,and/or may include more than one of any or all of the illustratedelements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions thatmay be executed to implement the example management endpoint 340 ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5 and/or the example management agent 350 ofFIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or 6 are shown in FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and/or 10. Inthese examples, the machine readable instructions implement programs forexecution by a processor such as the processor 1112, 1212 shown in theexample processor platform 1100, 1200 discussed below in connection withFIGS. 11 and/or 12. The programs may be embodied in software stored on atangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppydisk, a hard drive, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or amemory associated with the processor 1112, 1212, but the entire programand/or parts thereof could alternatively be executed by a device otherthan the processor 1112, 1212 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicatedhardware. Further, although the example programs are described withreference to the flowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and/or 10,many other methods of deploying, managing, and updating workload domainsin accordance with the teachings of this disclosure may alternatively beused. For example, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed,and/or some of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, orcombined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and/or 10may be implemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/ormachine readable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readablestorage medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-onlymemory (ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), acache, a random-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device orstorage disk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., forextended time periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. In someexamples, the example processes of FIGS. 7, 8, 9, and/or 10 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/ormachine readable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, aread-only memory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. As usedherein, when the phrase “at least” is used as the transition term in apreamble of a claim, it is open-ended in the same manner as the term“comprising” is open ended. Comprising and all other variants of“comprise” are expressly defined to be open-ended terms. Including andall other variants of “include” are also defined to be open-ended terms.In contrast, the term consisting and/or other forms of consist aredefined to be close-ended terms.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram 700 representative of operations performedby the example management agent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6, and/orthe example management endpoint 340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5.The example sequence 700 of FIG. 7 begins with the example queue manager520 of the example management endpoint 340 managing a queue ofinstructions to be executed by the management agent 350 (block 705). Insome examples, the example queue manager 520 utilizes afirst-in-first-out approach to scheduling execution of instructions atthe management agent(s) 350. That is, instructions are queued forexecution at the management agent(s) in the order in which they areidentified for execution (e.g., by an administrator). However, any otherapproach to scheduling may additionally or alternatively be used suchas, a first-in-last-out approach. When the example management agent 350identifies that execution of an instruction has completed (e.g., asuccessful execution, a failure, etc.) the example queue manager 520removes such instructions from the queue of instructions to be executed.

The example management agent 350 queries the management endpoint 340 foran indication of instructions to be executed by the management agent 350(block 710). The example management endpoint 340 identifies aninstruction to be executed by the management agent and responds to therequest received from the management agent 350 with an indication of theinstruction to be executed (block 715). In some examples, the indicationof the instruction includes a name of the command to be executed (e.g.,“Get Local Time”) and one or more parameters that are to be used and/orspecified when executing the command.

In some other examples, the example management endpoint 340 maydetermine that no instructions are to be executed, and a responseindicative of the same may be sent to the example management endpointinterface 530. In such an example, the example sequence of FIG. 7 may beterminated, and the management agent 350 may subsequently periodicallyand/or aperiodically solicit an indication of an instruction to beexecuted from the management endpoint 340.

Upon receipt of an indication of an instruction to be executed, theexample management agent 350 determines whether the command and/orinstruction to be executed is known (block 720). In some examples, theexample management agent 350 inspects the example command cache 675and/or the example instruction cache 620 of the component server 330 todetermine whether the command and/or instruction is known (e.g., is apackage that supports the command loaded in the example command cache675, is a package that supports the command stored in the instructioncache 620, etc.). In the illustrated example of FIG. 7, the examplemanagement agent 350 contacts the management endpoint 340 to retrievethe package (block 725). In some examples, the example management agent350 may contact the repository 134 to retrieve the package. In theillustrated example of FIG. 7, the management endpoint 340 directlyprovides the package to the management agent 350. Additionally oralternatively, the management endpoint 340 may provide a link to thepackage (e.g., a link to the repository 134) and direct the managementagent 350 to retrieve the package from the provided link.

If the example management agent 350 determines that the command and/orinstruction is not loaded in the command cache 675 or stored in theinstruction cache 620, the example management agent 350 transmits arequest to the management endpoint 340 to retrieve a package thatimplements the command and/or instruction (block 725). In some examples,the example management agent 350 may first consult with the managementendpoint 340 to first identify a location of the repository 134 and/oran identification of a package that implements the command and/orinstruction. The example management endpoint 340 provides the packageand a checksum (e.g., an MD5 hash) to facilitate verification of thepackage. In some examples, the checksum may be provided to themanagement agent 350 as part of the indication of the instruction(s)(e.g., provided in block 715). The checksum enables the management agent350 to verify that the proper package was retrieved from the managementendpoint 340 and/or the repository 134. The example management agent 350stores the package in the instruction cache 620 (block 735).

The example management agent 350 determines whether the retrievedpackage is valid (block 740). The example management agent 350 maydetermine whether the retrieved package is valid by, for example,computing a checksum of the retrieved package stored in the instructioncache 620 and comparing the computed checksum against the checksumprovided by the repository 134 (and/or the management endpoint 340).However, any other approach to validating a retrieved package mayadditionally or alternatively be used. For example, validating thepackage may involve verifying that any pre-requisites of the packagehave already been installed and/or are otherwise available for executionof the instructions included in the package, performing a virus scan onthe package, etc.

If the example management agent 350 determines that the retrievedpackage is valid, the example command executor 680 loads instructionsfrom the package into the command cache 675 (block 743). The examplemanagement endpoint interface 630 provides a status update to themanagement endpoint 340 indicating that the management agent 350 isprocessing the command (block 745). The example command executor 680executes the command and/or instructions loaded in the command cache 675(block 750). The example command executor 680 collects the output of theexecution of the command and/or instructions (block 755) and stores theoutput of the execution as a result (block 760). The example commandexecutor 680 collects the output of the execution of the command and/orinstructions by, for example, monitoring a standard out interface,monitoring a standard error interface, monitoring an event log,monitoring an output file, monitoring a returned value of a function,etc. Such monitoring of the output of the execution of the commandand/or instruction is performed until execution of the command and/orinstruction is complete (e.g., until the command and/or instructioncompletes its normal operation, until the command and/or instructionexecution is terminated, until a timeout is reached, etc.) When theexecution of the command and/or instruction is complete, the examplemanagement agent 350 provides a status of the execution to themanagement endpoint 340 indicating that execution has completed (block765).

If the example management agent 350 determines that the retrievedpackage is not valid, the example management agent 350 provides a statusupdate to the management endpoint 340 indicating that the package wasrejected (block 770). The example management agent 350 stores a resultindicating that the validation failed (block 775). In some examples, theresult indicates a reason for the failed validation (e.g., a checksumfailure, a missing pre-requisite, a virus scan, etc.). In some examples,the example management agent 350 deletes the package from theinstruction cache 620 (block 780). Deleting and/or otherwise removingthe package from the instruction cache 620 ensures that packages thatfailed validation (e.g., a package where a computed checksum did notmatch a checksum provided by the repository, a package that failed avirus scan, etc.) are not left on the component server 330.

The collected results are sent to the monitoring endpoint 340 by themanagement agent 350 (block 785). The example management endpoint 340stores the received results in the result data store 540 (block 790). Inthis manner, results of the execution of the command(s) and/orinstruction(s) across multiple management agents are centralized to asingle management endpoint 340 such that the management endpoint canreport upon the status of the execution of the instruction(s) across themultiple management agents using a single interface. The example queuemanager 520 of the example management endpoint 340 de-queues the commandand/or instruction identified to the management agent (see block 715)such that the command and/or instruction is not provided to themanagement agent 350 in response to subsequent requests (block 795). Theexample sequence 700 of FIG. 7 is then repeated periodically and/oraperiodically to solicit an indication of an instruction to be executedfrom the management endpoint 340.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example managementagent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or 6. The example process 800 of FIG.8 begins at block 810 when the example management endpoint interface 630queries the management endpoint 340 for an indication of instructions tobe executed by the management agent 350 (block 810). As noted inconnection with FIG. 7, the example management endpoint 340 determineswhether an instruction is to be executed and, if so, responds to therequest received from the management endpoint interface 630 with anindication of the instruction to be executed. In some examples, theexample management endpoint 340 may determine that no instructions areto be executed, and a response indicative of the same may be sent to theexample management endpoint interface 630. In such an example, theexample process of FIG. 8 may be repeated periodically and/oraperiodically to solicit in an indication of an instruction to beexecuted from the management endpoint. Upon receipt of an indication ofan instruction to be executed, the example instruction retriever 640determines whether the instruction to be executed is loaded in thecommand cache 675 620 (block 820). As noted above, the instruction isimplemented as a plugin that is loaded into the command cache 675 forexecution. Such instructions may be implemented by, for example, a DLL.

If the example instruction retriever 540 determines that the instructionis not loaded in the command cache 675 (e.g., block 820 returns a resultof NO), the example instruction retriever 540 attempts to obtain theinstructions and load those instructions into the command cache 675(block 830). An example approach to obtaining the instructions isdescribed below in connection with FIG. 9.

The example instruction validator 650 determines whether theinstructions stored in the command cache 675 are valid (block 840). Theexample instruction validator 650 may determine whether the instructionsare valid by, for example, confirming that the instructions can beproperly called by the command executor 680. However, any other approachto validating instructions loaded in the command cache 675 mayadditionally or alternatively be used. For example, validating theinstructions may involve verifying that any pre-requisites of theinstructions have already been installed and/or are otherwise availablefor execution of the instructions, performing a virus scan on theinstructions, etc.

If the example instruction validator 650 determines that theinstructions are valid (e.g., block 840 returns a result of YES), theexample management endpoint interface 630 provides a status update tothe management endpoint 340 indicating that the management agent 350 isprocessing the instruction (block 845). The example command executor 680executes the instructions loaded in the command cache 675 (block 850).In some examples, execution of the instructions loaded in the commandcache 675 may invoke the instruction executor interface 660 to instructthe instruction executor 610 to execute an instruction.

The example command executor 680 collects a result of the execution ofthe instructions (block 855) and stores the output of the execution ofthe instructions in the result cache 670 as a result of the execution ofthe instruction (block 860). Such monitoring of the output of theexecution of the instruction is performed until execution of theinstruction is complete (e.g., until the instruction completes itsnormal operation, until the instruction execution is terminated, until atimeout is reached, etc.)

In some examples, the example management endpoint interface 630evaluates the result of the execution of the instruction to determine ifthe instruction completed as expected (as defined in the indication ofthe instruction received from the management endpoint 340 and/or in thedefinition file included in the package) (block 861). Upon determiningthat the result of the execution of the instruction does not match theexpected result (block 861 returns a result of NO), the examplemanagement endpoint interface 630 may determine whether the execution ofthe instruction should be retried (block 862). In some examples, a retrycounter is used to indicate a number of times that execution of theinstruction has already been attempted. If the number of times thatexecution of the instruction has already been attempted is below a retrythreshold, the example management endpoint interface 630 provides anupdated status (e.g., retrying) to the management endpoint 340 (block863). In some examples, additional information such as, the number ofretries already performed, a description of the reason for the failurethat caused the retry, etc. may additionally or alternatively becommunicated to the management endpoint.

While in the illustrated example of FIG. 8, the instructions arere-executed as a result of a failure, in some examples, other responsiveactions may be taken such as, a rollback of the execution of theinstructions may be triggered (e.g., to return the component server 330to a state prior to the failed execution of the instructions), an alertmay be sent to an administrator to direct the administrators review intothe failure, etc. Control then proceeds to block 850, where theinstructions are re-executed. Blocks 850 through 863 are then repeateduntil an expected result is returned (block 861 returns a result of YES)or the retry threshold is exceeded (block 862 returns a result of NO).

Returning to block 862, if the example management endpoint interface 630determines that the retry threshold is exceeded (block 862 returning aresult of NO). The example management endpoint interface 630 provides anupdated status (e.g., failed) to the management endpoint 340 (block864). In some examples, additional information such as, the number ofretries already performed, a description of the reason for the failurethat caused the retry, etc. may additionally or alternatively becommunicated to the management endpoint. Such additional information maybe useful when diagnosing the failure. The results collected in theresult cache 670 by the instruction executor interface 660 aretransmitted to the management endpoint 340 by the management endpointinterface 630 (block 885). In this manner, results of the execution ofthe instruction(s) across multiple management agents are centralized toa single management endpoint 340 such that the management endpoint canreport upon the status of the execution of the instruction(s) across themultiple management agents using a single interface.

Returning to block 861, when the execution of the instruction iscomplete and has returned an expected result (block 861 returns a resultof YES), the example management endpoint interface 630 provides a statusof the execution of the instruction to the management endpoint 340indicating that execution of the instruction has completed (block 865).The results collected in the result cache 670 by the instructionexecutor interface 660 are transmitted to the management endpoint 340 bythe management endpoint interface 630 (block 885).

While in the illustrated example of FIG. 8, the determination of whetherto retry execution of the instruction (block 862) is made by the examplemanagement endpoint interface 630 (e.g., at the management agent 350),in some examples, the management endpoint interface 630 may consult themanagement endpoint 340 to determine whether execution of theinstruction should be retried. Additionally or alternatively, themanagement endpoint 340 may, upon receipt of the results transmitted inconnection with block 885, determine that the instructions did notproduce an expected result, and may re-queue the instructions forexecution in the instruction queue 530.

Returning to block 840, if the example instruction validator 650determines that the instructions are not valid (e.g., block 840 returnsa result of NO), the example management endpoint interface 630 providesa status update to the management endpoint 340 indicating that theinstructions were rejected (block 870). In some examples, instead ofinforming the management endpoint 340 of the failure to validation ofthe instructions, control may return to block 830, where the exampleinstruction retriever 640 may re-attempt obtaining the instructionsand/or loading the instructions into the command cache 675. Suchre-attempts may be performed up to, for example, a threshold number ofre-attempts (e.g., three re-attempts, five re-attempts, etc.) before theexample management endpoint interface 630 informs the managementendpoint 340 of the rejected status of the instructions (block 870).

The example instruction executor interface 660 stores a resultindicating that the validation failed in the result cache 670 (block875). In some examples, the result indicates a reason for the failedvalidation (e.g., a checksum failure, a missing pre-requisite, a virusscan, etc.). In some examples, the example instruction retriever 640unloads the instructions from the command cache 675 and/or deletes thepackage including the instructions from the instruction cache 620 (block880). Unloading, deleting and/or otherwise removing the instructionsfrom the command cache 675 and/or the instruction cache 620 ensures thatinstructions that failed validation (e.g., an instruction where acomputed checksum did not match a checksum provided by the repository,an instruction that failed a virus scan, etc.) are not left on thecomponent server 330 and/or loaded in memory of the management agent350. In some examples, the instructions may be unloaded and/or removedregardless of whether the validation (of block 840) returns YES or NO.For example, the deletion of the instructions (block 880) may beperformed after the results are sent to the monitoring endpoint 340(block 885). Removing the instruction(s) reduces the likelihood thatversioning issues might occur (e.g., a prior version of an instructionis executed despite a newer version being available at the repository134). Removing the instruction(s) also reduces an amount of space withinthe instruction cache 620 utilized by such instructions. As a result,smaller instruction caches 620 may be utilized. When considered acrossthe deployment environment 112, having hundreds or even thousands ofcopies of an instruction and/or package in each of the respectiveinstruction caches can consume large amounts of storage space (e.g., a 1MB instruction file stored one thousand times will consume approximately1 GB of storage resources).

The results collected in the result cache 670 by the instructionexecutor interface 660 are transmitted to the management endpoint 340 bythe management endpoint interface 630 (block 885). In this manner,results of the execution of the instruction(s) across multiplemanagement agents are centralized to a single management endpoint 340such that the management endpoint can report upon the status of theexecution of the instruction(s) across the multiple management agentsusing a single interface. The example process 800 of FIG. 8 is thenrepeated periodically and/or aperiodically to solicit an indication ofan instruction to be executed from the management endpoint 340.

Although the example program 800 of FIG. 8 is described in connectionwith executing instructions at a single management agent 350, theexample program 800 of FIG. 8 implemented in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure can be used in a multi management agentscenario in which hundreds or thousands of management agents operate atthe direction of the management endpoint 340. For example, whileexecuting instructions in a manual fashion for such quantities of userswould be overly burdensome or near impossible within required timeconstraints, examples disclosed herein may be used to distribute andexecute large quantities of instructions in an efficient and streamlinedfashion without burdening and frustrating end users with long wait timesresulting from upgrades and/or operations performed by the instructions.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example managementagent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, and/or 6. The example process 830 of FIG.9 begins at block 905 when the example instruction retriever 640attempts to identify a package that includes the command specified inthe indication of the instruction to be executed received from themanagement endpoint 340 (block 905). In examples disclosed herein, theexample instruction retriever 640 attempts to identify the package byinspecting description files included with previously retrieved packagesstored in the instruction cache 620. The example instruction retriever640 determines whether the package is identified in the instructioncache 620 (block 910). If the package is identified in the instructioncache 620 (block 910 returns a result of YES), the example instructionretriever 640 loads the package and/or a portion thereof (e.g., a DLLfile) into the command cache 675 (block 915). The instructions and/orcommands implemented by the package may then be executed by the commandexecutor 680. Returning to block 910, if the package is not identifiedin the instruction cache 620 (block 910 returns a result of NO), theexample management endpoint interface 630 transmits a request for apackage that implements the identified command to the managementendpoint 340 (block 920). The example management endpoint 340 attemptsto identify a package that implements the identified command, andresponds with the identified package, a link to the identified package,or an error message. An example approach to attempting to identify thepackage at the management endpoint 340 is described below in connectionwith FIG. 10. The example management endpoint interface 630 evaluatesthe response received from the example management endpoint 340 (block925). If the example management endpoint 340 responds with the package(block 925 returns a result of PACKAGE), the example instructionretriever 640 decompresses the package (block 930). If the examplemanagement endpoint 340 responds with a link to the package (block 925returns a result of LINK TO PACKAGE), the example instruction retriever640 retrieves the package from the identified link (block 928) anddecompresses the package (block 930). If the example management endpoint340 responds with the error message, no package is loaded (block 945).

When retrieving the instructions (block 928), the example instructionretriever 640 retrieves the package from the repository 134 asidentified by the management endpoint 340. In some examples, therepository 134 is implemented by a file share. The example instructionretriever 640 retrieves the package by, for example, transmitting arequest to the repository 134 and receiving one or more responsemessages including the package. However, any other approach to obtaininga package from a repository may additionally or alternatively be used.In the illustrated example of FIG. 9, the instructions are provided in acompressed format (e.g., as a .zip file). However, any other compressionformat may additionally or alternatively be used. The exampleinstruction retriever 640 decompresses the instructions to anuncompressed state (block 930). Providing instruction packages in acompressed state is useful when, for example, the instructions arebinary instructions for execution by the operating system of thecomponent server 330, as such compression reduces data transmissionrequirements as well as storage requirements of the repository 134. Incontrast, instructions that are formatted as script instructions (whichmay be, for example, only a few lines and/or bytes of instructions) forexecution by a script interpreter such as the Microsoft™ PowerShell™Framework might not be compressed because the storage space reductiondoes not outweigh the processing requirements on each of the componentservers 330 to decompress the instructions. The example instructionretriever 640 stores the decompressed package (and/or the compressedpackage) in the instruction cache 620 (block 932).

In the illustrated example of FIG. 9, the example repository 134 and/ormanagement endpoint 340, in addition to providing the package, alsoprovides a checksum (e.g., an MD5 hash) to facilitate verification ofthe instructions. The example instruction validator 650 validates theretrieved package (block 935). Validating the package helps ensure thatpackages that were potentially corrupted during transmission are notinadvertently loaded into the command cache 675 and executed by thecommand executor 680. The example instruction validator 650 determinesthat the package is valid by, for example, computing a checksum of theretrieved package stored in the instruction cache 620 and comparing thecomputed checksum against the checksum provided by the repository 134(and/or the management endpoint 340). However, any other validationscheme may additionally or alternatively be used.

If the example instruction validator 650 determines that the package isvalid (block 940 returns a result of YES), the example package and/or aportion thereof is loaded into the command cache 675 for execution bythe command executor 680 (block 915). If the example instructionvalidator 650 determines that the package is not valid (block 940returns a result of NO), the package is not loaded into the commandcache 675. Control then returns to block 840 of FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart representative of example machine-readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the example managementendpoint 340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5. The example program 1000of FIG. 10 begins when the package provider 560 receives a request for apackage supporting execution of an identified command (block 1010). Inthe illustrated example of FIG. 10, the request is received via themanagement agent interface 510 and is routed to the package provider560. In the illustrated example of FIG. 10, the request is receivedusing a REST protocol. However, any other past, present, and/or futureprotocol and/or format may additionally or alternatively be used torequest a package. The example package provider 560 scans the repository134 for a package supporting execution of the command (block 1020). Insome examples, the example package provider 560 scans the repository 134for the package by inspecting a description file included in eachpackage file that identifies the commands supported by the correspondingpackage file. However, any other approach to identifying a package basedon a command may additionally or alternatively be used. For example, theexample package provider 560 may maintain a look-up table that enablestranslation of the command to a package that supports execution of thecommand.

If the example package provider 560 identifies a package (block 1030returns a result of YES), the example package provider 560 determineswhether the package should be directly provided in response to therequest. If the package is to be directly provided (block 1040 returns aresult of YES), the example package provider 560 provides the identifiedpackage in response to the request (block 1050). If the package is notto be directly provided (block 1040 returns a result of NO), the examplepackage provider 560 provides a link to the identified package inresponse to the request (block 1060). The determination of whether toprovide the package directly in response to the request may be made inany manner. In some examples, the determination may be made based onwhether the package is stored in a local repository (e.g., a repositoryimplemented at the vA 320). If the package is stored at the localrepository, the example package provider 560 provides the identifiedpackage in response to the request to reduce network communicationoverhead. If the package is not stored at the local repository (e.g.,the repository 134 is located at a third-party site such as thethird-party site 399 of FIG. 3C), the example package provider 560provides the link to the identified package.

Returning to block 1030, if no package is found (block 1030 returns aresult of NO), the example package provider 560 returns an error messagein response to the request (block 1070). The example process 1000 ofFIG. 10 then terminates.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1100 capableof executing the instructions of FIG. 7 to implement the examplemanagement endpoint 340 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C, 4, and/or 5. The processorplatform 1100 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1112. Theprocessor 1112 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, theprocessor 1112 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits,logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired familyor manufacturer.

The processor 1112 of the illustrated example includes a local memory1113 (e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the examplemanagement agent interface 510, the example queue manager 520, theexample result interface 550, and/or the example package provider 560.The processor 1112 of the illustrated example is in communication with amain memory including a volatile memory 1114 and a non-volatile memory1116 via a bus 1118. The volatile memory 1114 may be implemented bySynchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random AccessMemory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) and/or anyother type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory 1116may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type ofmemory device. Access to the main memory 1114, 1116 is controlled by amemory controller.

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 1120. The interface circuit 1120 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1122 are connectedto the interface circuit 1120. The input device(s) 1122 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 1112. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, akeyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball,isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 1124 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 1120 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1124 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 1120 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1120 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network1126 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 1100 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 1128 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 1128 include flash devices, floppydisk drives, hard drive disks, optical compact disk (CD) drives, opticalBlu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and optical digital versatile disk(DVD) drives. The example mass storage 1128 may implement the exampleinstruction queue 530 and/or the example result data store 540.

Coded instructions 1132 representative of the example machine readableinstructions of FIG. 7 may be stored in the mass storage device 1128, inthe volatile memory 1114, in the non-volatile memory 1116, and/or on aremovable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD or DVD.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1200 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 7 and/or 8 to implement theexample management agent 350 of FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and/or 6. The processorplatform 1200 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1212. Theprocessor 1212 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, theprocessor 1212 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits,logic circuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired familyor manufacturer.

The processor 1212 of the illustrated example includes a local memory1213 (e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the examplemanagement endpoint interface 630, the example instruction retriever640, the example instruction validator 650, the example instructionexecutor interface 660, and/or the example command executor 680. Theprocessor 1212 of the illustrated example is in communication with amain memory including a volatile memory 1214 and a non-volatile memory1216 via a bus 1218. The volatile memory 1214 may be implemented bySynchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), Dynamic Random AccessMemory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM) and/or anyother type of random access memory device. The non-volatile memory 1216may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desired type ofmemory device. Access to the main memory 1214, 1216 is controlled by amemory controller. In the illustrated example of FIG. 12, the examplerandom access memory 1214 implements the example command cache 675.

The processor platform 1200 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 1220. The interface circuit 1220 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1222 are connectedto the interface circuit 1220. The input device(s) 1222 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 1212. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, akeyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball,isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 1224 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 1220 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1224 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 1220 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1220 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network1226 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 1200 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 1228 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 1228 include flash devices, floppydisk drives, hard drive disks, optical compact disk (CD) drives, opticalBlu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and optical digital versatile disk(DVD) drives. The example mass storage device 1228 may implement theexample result cache 670.

Coded instructions 1232 representative of the example machine readableinstructions of FIGS. 7 and/or 8 may be stored in the mass storagedevice 1228, in the volatile memory 1214, in the non-volatile memory1216, and/or on a removable tangible computer readable storage mediumsuch as a CD or DVD.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosedmethods, apparatus and articles of manufacture enable deployment ofinstructions to component servers via management agents. In someexamples, the instructions are formatted as a plugin that extends thefunctionality of the management agents. Such functionality enablesinstructions that might otherwise require execution external to themanagement agent (e.g., execution by an instruction executor such as theMicrosoft™ PowerShell™ framework) to be implemented internal to themanagement agent 350. Using the plugin, some commands and/orinstructions conveyed to the management agent by the management endpointcan be executed without interfacing with the external instructionexecutor. As a result, requirements for instruction frameworks ofcomponent servers are reduced, thereby reducing storage and/orprocessing requirements of the component servers. In the context of adeployment environment operating many component servers, such reductionsenable additional component servers to be operated.

In some examples, the management agent is separate from an instructionexecutor of the component server. In this manner, the instructionexecutor can execute instructions that affect the operation(s) of themanagement agent. For example, the instruction executor may execute aninstruction that causes the management agent to become updated and/orupgraded. Such functionality alleviates the need for a user (e.g., anadministrator) to manually update each management agent of eachcomponent server. Such an approach is beneficial because, through theuse of distributed execution of such installations, upgrades can becompleted in a more timely fashion as compared to manual installation ofan upgrade. In this manner, hundreds or thousands of management agents,for example, can rapidly be upgraded.

In some examples, instructions are retrieved by a management agent forexecution at a component server from a repository. In some examples, theinstructions are loaded into a command cache for execution by a commandexecutor of the management agent. In some examples, upon completion ofthe execution of the instructions, the instruction(s) are unloaded fromthe command cache and/or removed from the component server. Removing theinstruction(s) reduces the likelihood that versioning issues might occur(e.g., a prior version of an instruction is executed despite a newerversion being available at the repository). Removing the instruction(s)also reduces an amount of space within the command cache and/or aninstruction cache utilized by such instructions. When considered acrossthe deployment environment, having hundreds or even thousands of copiesof an instruction in each of the respective instruction caches canconsume large amounts of storage space (e.g., a 1 MB instruction filestored one thousand times will consume approximately 1 GB of storageresources). Because of the removal of the instructions disclosed herein,smaller instruction caches may be utilized, resulting in lower systemrequirements for distributed deployment environments.

In some examples disclosed herein, instructions are provided to themanagement agent in a compressed format (e.g., as a .zip file).Providing instruction packages in a compressed state is useful when, forexample, the instructions are binary instructions for execution at thecomponent server, as such compression reduces data transmissionrequirements as well as storage requirements of the repository.

In some examples, the repository from which the management agentretrieves instructions for execution may be managed and/or operated by athird party organization (e.g., a professional service organization(PSO)) that manages and/or develops instructions (e.g., developsexecutable code, develops workflows, etc.). Such an approach enables anadministrator of the deployment environment to easily work with thirdparty software providers (e.g., consultants, PSOs, etc.) that createinstructions (e.g., executable files) that may be customized for thedeployment environment. In this manner, the administrator can simplydirect the management endpoint to cause the management agents toretrieve the instructions from a repository hosted by the third partyorganization, and execute those instructions. Such an approachalleviates storage needs within the deployment environment. Such anapproach also facilitates more rapid development and deployment ofinstructions.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. A component server comprising: a management agentincluding; an instruction retriever to request a package from amanagement endpoint, the package to support execution of a firstinstruction; a command cache to be loaded with a first component of thepackage, the first component including a second instruction to implementa plugin framework; and a command executor to execute the firstcomponent of the package from the command cache; and an instructioncache to store a second component of the package, the second componentincluding a third instruction to affect an operation of the componentserver.
 2. The component server of claim 1, wherein the management agentfurther includes a management endpoint interface to provide a status ofthe execution of the second instruction to the management endpoint. 3.The component server of claim 1, wherein the management agent furtherincludes a management endpoint interface to access an indication of thefirst instruction from the management endpoint, the management endpointinterface to cause retrieval of the package from a repository operatedby a professional services organization.
 4. The component server ofclaim 1, wherein the management agent further includes an instructionvalidator to validate the package.
 5. The component server of claim 4,wherein the instruction validator is to validate the package bydetermining a first checksum of the first instruction and by comparingthe first checksum to a second checksum provided by the managementendpoint.
 6. The component server of claim 1, further including aninstruction executor to execute the second component of the package in aseparate execution space from the command executor.
 7. The componentserver of claim 1, wherein the instruction retriever is to retrieve thepackage in a compressed format, and the instruction retriever is todecompress the compressed package into a decompressed format.
 8. Thecomponent server of claim 1, wherein the instruction retriever is tostore the package in a file system prior to the first component of thepackage being loaded into the command cache.
 9. The component server ofclaim 1, wherein the package includes a description file to identifyinstructions for which the package supports execution.
 10. Anon-transitory computer readable medium comprising first instructionswhich, when executed, cause a processor within a deployment environmentto at least: request a package from a management endpoint, the packageto support execution of a second instruction; load a first component ofthe package in a command cache, the first component including a thirdinstruction to implement a plugin framework; cause a second component ofthe package to be stored in an instruction cache, the instruction cachelocated outside the deployment environment, the second componentincluding a fourth instruction; and execute the first component from thecommand cache.
 11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim10, wherein the first instructions, when executed, cause the processorto provide a status update to the management endpoint, the status updateindicating validity of the package.
 12. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 10, wherein the first instructions, whenexecuted, cause the processor to validate the requested package by:determining a first checksum of the requested package; and comparing thefirst checksum to a second checksum provided by a repository.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the packageis retrieved in a compressed format, and the first instructions, whenexecuted, cause the processor to decompress the package into adecompressed format.
 14. The non-transitory computer readable medium ofclaim 13, wherein the first instructions, when executed, cause theprocessor to direct an instruction executor output of the deploymentenvironment to execute the decompressed instructions.
 15. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the firstinstructions, when executed, cause the processor to store an output ofthe execution of the third instruction as a result.
 16. A method fordistribution and execution of instructions, the method comprising:requesting, by executing an instruction with a processor within adeployment environment, a package supporting execution of a secondinstruction from a management endpoint; loading, by executing aninstruction with the processor, a first component of the package in acommand cache, the first component including a third instruction toimplement a plugin framework; causing, by executing an instruction withthe processor, a second component of the package to be stored in aninstruction cache, the instruction cache located outside the deploymentenvironment, the second component including a fourth instruction; andexecuting the first component from the command cache.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, further including retrieving the package from a repositorylocated outside of the deployment environment, the repository locatedoutside of the deployment environment to facilitate instructions beingprovided by a professional services organization.
 18. The method ofclaim 16, further including validating the package by: determining afirst checksum of the requested package; and comparing the firstchecksum to a second checksum provided by the repository.
 19. The methodof claim 16, wherein the package is retrieved in a compressed format,and further including decompressing the compressed package into adecompressed format.
 20. The method of claim 16, further includingstoring the package in a file system prior to causing the firstcomponent of the package to be loaded into the command cache.